Trends In Agriculture
Mark your calendars for the 2010 Trends In Agriculture fall meeting, October 5-6 at The Marquette in Minneapolis, MN. Programming for the fall Trends meeting is underway and more information on sessions will be available soon!

If you are interested in sponsoring a session at the 2010 Trends In Agriculture meeting, please contact Jenny Pickett at 913-491-6500 or at [email protected].

Best of NAMA Call For Entries
The deadline for submitting entries for the Best of NAMA competition is Friday, October 8.

The Best of NAMA awards program honors the best work in agricultural communications. Actually, the best of the best, since companies/agencies must first qualify through regional competition in order to advance to the national level. The national awards ceremony will take place April 13, at the Hyatt Regency, Kansas City.

More information on the Best of NAMA Call for Entries is on the way!

Executive Committee
The NAMA Executive Committee will be meeting this week in Lake Tahoe, California. Kevin Ochsner, Adayana, Inc., will be joining the Executive Committee to help committee members establish NAMA’s strategic plan. The meeting will take place August 4-5.

Executive Committee members include: Susie Decker, Farm Progress Companies (National NAMA President); Vicki Henrickson, Blasdel Cleaver Schwalbe Communications (President-Elect); Beth Burgy, Broadhead + Co. (Secretary/Treasurer); Paul Redhage, FMC Agricultural Products; Kenna Rathai, Kenna B. Rathai Communications; Robert Ratliff, ProfitableFarming.com; Ken Dean, SouthWestern Association/Western Farm Show; Marvin Kokes, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association; Becky Peterson, Farm Credit Services; and Jenny Pickett, National NAMA.

Careers Committee
The Careers Committee will meet August 27 at the Rhea + Kaiser Marketing Communications offices in Naperville, IL. The committee will be discussing the responsibilities of the committee as well as any Marketing Competition Guideline changes and planning for the Student Marketing Competition at the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference, April 13-15, 2011.

The Careers Committee includes: Wes Meador, Rhea + Kaiser Marketing Communications (Careers Chair); Kristen Marshall, Nicholson Kovac (Vice Chair); Stacey Noe, Iowa State University (Advisor); Jennifer Christie, John Deere, Ltd. & Student Advisor for University of Guelph; Deron Johnson, Rhea + Kaiser Marketing Communications; Michelle Tollefson, Pfizer Animal Health; Matt Bornhorst, Agriculture Future of America; Mike Butler, Archer>Malmo; Amy Barron, Novus International; Janelle Buxton, Successful Farming & Agriculture Online; Sara Thieding, Makhteshim Agan of North America; Jill Loehr, Wyffels Hybrids; Carrie Jorgensen, McCormick Company; Amy Jolliff, Bader Rutter & Associates; and Paul Redhage, FMC Agriculture Products (Executive Committee Liaison).

Several of the North Central Chapter’s leaders (Sheri Hansen, Padilla Speer Beardsley; Josh Krenz, Land O’Lakes, Inc.; Lori Maude, Broadhead + Co.; Teri Otte, Land O’Lakes, Inc.; Melissa Richard, Padilla Speer Beardsley; and JoDee George, Weber Shandwick) met at the Padilla Speer Beardsley offices on Thursday, July 22 to plan the upcoming chapter year.  By the end of the morning, topics had been chosen and responsibility of each assigned to specific leaders.

Chapter members can look forward to a variety of programs, including generational issues, crisis communication, legislative updates and another fun night at a Twins game.  In addition, the North Central Chapter will host a reception at the closing of NAMA’s Trends in Agriculture Conference, being held at The Marquette Hotel in Minneapolis on October 5 and 6.